Like Herding Cattle

Last night my husband and I went to our first meeting at Audubon Charter School. Our first meeting after getting in of course there was a meeting before the lottery even happened which was only slightly more informative than the one last night.
This latest meeting was to talk about tuition. For those of you who don’t know Audubon is a charter school within the Orleans Parish School System. Which one? Honestly I don’t know though I should look that up as it’s info I “should” know…the school’s website says New Orleans Parish School Board. I’m not sure that really answers the question at hand however, let’s move on. Since the school lost federal funding for it’s Pre-K program last year they were forced to cut the K-3 grade all together and charge tuition for K-4. We will be heading into K-4 next school year so we will be paying tuition. The up side to this over private schools in which we would also be paying tuition this year is that every year after next is free. That makes paying $4,570 by July 15th much more appealing if not actually easier.
The long and the short of last night’s meeting was we all have to go to an independent website (sss.nais.org) type in our financial information and that will tell us if we are eligible for reduced tuition. I am pretty sure we are not eligible though I will be plugging our numbers into that little website just to be 100%. They also mentioned a loan that is available but of course couldn’t really answer any questions on that since it is “official bank stuff”. The whole shebang lasted half an hour and I didn’t learn a single thing I couldn’t have learned easier from an e-mail.
I was reminded of one thing though, this is going to be a long bumpy ride. I love to learn, I enjoy taking classes and I always have but what I just can not stand is all the bureaucratic crap that goes along with school. I am not the lowest common denominator and I have worked hard my whole life to surround myself with intelligent people in intriguing situations, I do not enjoy being spoken to as though I am a child. I didn’t like it when I was a child and I sure as hell don’t like it now. But there I was in a room full of people asking a question two minutes after someone across the room asked the same exact question. And I ask myself what am I doing back in this place? I worry I will not be able to deal with the system even for the sake of my own child’s school experience. Is this a worry all parent have or is this just me?

3 Comments so far

“I worry I will not be able to deal with the system even for the
sake of my own child’s school experience. Is this a worry all
parent have or is this just me?” Nope, you’re not the only one with
this worry. As a parent with a kid in Audubon’s Montessori program,
I can tell you that dealing with some of the administrative stuff
hasn’t been easy, but his education at Audubon has been very worth
it. I thank you for getting these posts going on the pre-K 4 stuff,
because it’s only been in the last couple of years that this has
come up with the pre-K program. I haven’t known enough about how
this works now to tell other parents who are entering into Audubon
what is going on now…but I knew enough to wish that it wasn’t
happening. I hope it works out for your child. And Audubon is one
of the charters still under the OPSD.

Dealing with the bureaucratic stuff is one of the reasons we
homeschool. Having a child with a life threatening allergy, ADHD
and sensory issues, I just don’t have it in me to fight or deal
with the system to get accommodations he needs. I hope everything
works out for you, I’ve heard Audubon is worth it.

Liprap – Thank you for the OPSD clarification. It’s good to know
there is another Audubon parent reading these posts. Cara – funny
you commented just now. When I was sitting in that meeting I was
thinking to myself “this is one of the reasons people homeschool”
and my son doesn’t have allergy, ADHD etc. I can’t even imagine.

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